452 COCOA 



CHAP 



branches and make them fall so carefully that hardly 

 ever any damage is done to the cocoa trees. 



The " koffiemama " has also to be cleaned from 

 epiphytes, especially so-called "wild pine - apples " 

 (plants belonging to the Bromelia family). When 

 this work is not regularly done, it not only gets difficult 

 and expensive to have it done, but also the risk is run 

 that the branches will break under the heavy weight of 

 the epiphytes and damage the cocoa trees. 



The arrangement of the beds 30 feet broad, separated 

 by small trenches, and all planted with two regular rows 

 of well-formed cocoa trees, gives the cocoa plantations in 

 Surinam a regular and orderly appearance ; besides, 

 never more than one tree is allowed to grow in the 

 same place, and watershoots are always removed ; the 

 trees make, therefore, an impression of being well cared 

 for. 



People who know how disorderly the appearance 

 of cocoa plantations is in other countries, are always 

 impressed by the regularity and cleanliness of the 

 Surinam plantations. Preuss says, 1 speaking about 

 Trinidad : " When the cocoa plantations in Surinam, 

 which I saw, are compared with well-attended gardens, 

 those in Trinidad may be really called ' plantations.' ' 



In Trinidad one finds here and there a forest tree, 

 for instance sand-box trees (Hura crepitans), left 

 standing in the cocoa fields. In Surinam, however, 

 this is never the case; only the "koffiemama" trees, 

 planted in one row on each bed, are allowed to shade 

 the cocoa here. 



Once the plantation is established, the field work 

 consists in weeding, keeping the trenches clean and 

 in good order, pruning, picking, and fighting the 

 diseases and enemies. 



Tillage of the soil is rarely done. Sometimes, 

 however, when a field has suffered and the trees are 

 in weak condition, the field is forked, leaving round 

 the tree a circle of some 6 feet diameter unforked, and 



1 Preuss, Expedition, p. 180. 



